Table for Two HK’s Healthy Summer Dining Experience

30Jul2012

Table for Two HK has partnered up with nine amazing restaurants all over the city that will each serve their very own special TFT HK dishes throughout the month of August, as part of its Healthy Summer Dining Experience. When you purchase these dishes, part of the proceeds will help TFT HK provide school lunches for children in developing countries, in line with their motto: Order for one. Feed two. And help the world eat better.

The other part of the deal means that, as well as helping feed starving children, if your photo of your TFT HK dish receives the most likes on Facebook, you can win exciting prizes.

As one of Table for Two’s Food Heroes, I was lucky enough to be invited along for the launch of the Healthy Summer Dining Experience, which took us on a tour of six of the participating venues to taste their special TFT HK dish or drink; our own little restaurant crawl, if you like.

The Genie Concept

We started our day at The Genie Concept to try their fresh organic pineapple and kale juice.

I was initially a little put off by the thought of drinking kale, yet was taken by surprise at how delicious and refreshing this juice was. Kale is rich in vitamin C and vitamin B6, and is also particularly good for women, given that it helps protect against breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

The Genie Concept in Sheung Wan offers 1, 2, 4 or 6-day juice cleanses designed for the busy Hong Kong lifestyle. Instead of your three meals a day, Genie will deliver you six freshly-pressed juices in a reusable cooler. For those, like me, who would not be able to handle this, you can just pop by for the one-off tasty juice or even some delicious healthy dishes.

If your photo of your pineapple and kale juice gets the most likes, you could win a 1-day Genie Concept Cleanse.

Our next destination was Grassroots Pantry, to try their Quinoa salad with orange hazelnut dressing, full of fresh flavours and interesting textures.

As you already know from my recent review of Grassroots Pantry (find it here), I adore this sweet little haven tucked away in Sai Ying Pun. The décor is charmingly beautiful, the staff greet you with a smile, and the vegetarian food is wholesome and delicious. Hong Kong definitely needs more places like this.

If your photo of the quinoa salad receives the most likes, you could win a voucher to attend a Grassroots Pantry workshop.

Light is an adorable little café on Eastern Street that feels far away from Hong Kong. Lovely owner Stephanie admitted that her aim is for people to “leave feeling better” after having eaten there; I certainly did.

The black bean patty is perfect: crispy on the outside with a moreish spiciness to it encased in a wonderfully fluffy homemade whole-wheat bun. I was rather anti veggie burgers, until I tried Stephanie’s.

MANA!’s Organic Mezze Platter awaited us next, full to the brim with hummus, babaghanouj, black and green olives, green salad and their famous flatbread topped with zaatar – the perfect sharing platter.

MANA! is my favourite healthy lunch spot at the moment, as you can see from my review here, and judging by how busy it is every day of the week, it’s clear that most of Hong Kong is of the same opinion.

For dessert, we ventured back into Sheung Wan to try Teakha’s Lemon and ginger tart, made with a ginger snap base and a creamy lemon topping, sprinkled with fresh lemon zest.

I’ve walked past Teakha multiple times, but have never had the time to check it out. After tasting the amazing tart and ogling the rest of the cakes on display, I will certainly be making the time to go back.

The final three participating restaurants in TFT HK’s Healthy Summer Dining Experience are Veggie SF, FoFo by El Willy and Pure Bar + Restaurant – not a bad selection. So as from Wednesday 1st August, you can make a difference by eating healthily at the same as helping a starving child eat healthily too…and of course you might be lucky enough to win some great prizes!

Thanks for the comment. I agree that MANA in some areas is over-priced, but it is easy, healthy and the wraps especially are delicious. I agree and have said in my full review of MANA that the flats are expensive for a glorified sandwich, but every so often I allow myself to splurge and I rarely regret it! I don’t agree with adding service charge onto things, so you’re definitely right about that! Especially as it isn’t even table service – but then again, at least it’s only 5% and not 10.

If you’re not a fan of MANA, you should give the other restaurants on TFT’s Healthy Summer Dining Experience a try – there are some really lovely places on the list.